"Well over a century has passed since the Lumière brothers frightened the life out of Parisians with The Arrival of a Train at a Station, and well over a million titles have since been recorded - if the Internet Movie Database is anything to go by.

Out of these million-plus movies, our team of experts has picked what we believe is the essential 1,000 - those that best sum up the dazzling achievement and variety of the movies."